I am a regular fan of many blogs that I am quite sure are popular (and profitable) for their owners. Many of these folks have converted their passion for writing into a full time  venture that pays them well, while others languish in the throes of Mt Dew, coffee and an upset spouse without making a dime. What is the difference between these people in my opinion?

A plan.

The profitable blogger is simply one who plans his or her moves carefully, works hard and builds an asset that compensates them for their time. Blogging (and especially business related blogging) should not be relegated to those who are passionate professionals, but professionals nonetheless.

Amateur: He who does not cover his costs and compensate himself for his time, no matter how accomplished he may be.

Professional: One who understands the business well enough to understand their worth and charge accordingly.

There was a rather lengthy and interesting debate on the Bloodhound blog recently about real estate bloggers and how they count their success. I would posit that the only way that you can fairly judge a blog or ANY form of promotional activity is the old fashioned way:

Revenue (Comminssions) - Expenses (including labor for your blogging time) = Profitability

If you are an expert and you blog to gain readership of your ideas and to promote your way of doing things, then the only way to measure the success of that is  in the numbers of converts created. True in evangelism. True in sales. True in life.

Hits. Schmidts.

Pageviews. Schmageviews.

As the song says. “It don’t mean nothing til you sign it on the dotted line…”

So you start by creating a plan. Plan the number of readers you want. Visualize them. Plan what it takes to provide them what they CRAVE. (Often it is something unique that they are not getting elsewhere) **cough** Solid, easily digested information **cough**

Look for ways to find partners in providing the info to your target audience. Complimentary industries are a GREAT source. Current vendors are good. Provide information and sale will follow. Do not provide a sales pitch and hope to convert many. People are not coming to see a sales pitch. They are coming for authoritative info.

NEXT Post on the Road map–planning your time…